I Need Help
by ThePointGirl
Summary: Danny needs help after the death of Ruben, he only admits it when Flack is over at his.
1. Don't Cry Over Spilt Coffee

It had been a long and hard time for Danny. He sat in his kitchen staring at the wall opposite. The blond sighed deeply, his chest rising and falling slowly. Closing his eyes Danny dipped his head and put both hands in his hair, gripping handfuls of it in his fists. Pulling, Danny gritted his teeth in with the pain. Danny opened his eyes and glared at the wall his eyes welling up with tears.

He was stupid to have told Ruben to carry on pedalling on his bike. The two of them had gone to the church to get Ruben's bike blessed by the Priest. It was on their way back, Danny saw a commotion and phoned Mac for back up, and told Ruben who was cycling to carry on home. The commotion was a robbery at a grocery store. And one of the people who owned it, in trying to shoot the robber shot Ruben instead. She didn't mean too. Ruben had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. If he hadn't of listened to Danny and stopped, he would have been fine. But because _Danny_ told him to carry on, he did. Danny blamed himself. He hated telling Ruben's mother Riki, she cried and screamed. Danny spent half the night opposite their apartment crying on the floor against the wall. He loved that kid. He was amazing and so excited and enthusiastic all the time. His dark hair and smiling bright eyes were the memory that was stuck permanently in Danny's brain. It took him a while, before he could pass the apartment and not break down in tears at the thought of not seeing Ruben come out asking to play catch with him after his shift.

It was then that a knock came at his door. Getting up Danny walked out of his kitchen and into the hallway. He was dressed in sweat pants and a white wife beater, his dog tags rustled as he walked slowly toward the door. Opening it Danny saw a pair of feet in black boots. Frowning slightly Danny let his eyes travel up the body that was dressed in a dark blue suit. His eyes reached the face. Detective Don Flack was standing at his doorstep looking a little uncomfortable. Danny realized he hadn't said anything and connected his own with Flack's similar baby blue eyes. He moved to let Flack in. Flack moved into Danny's apartment. Once in the living room, Flack turned to the blond with a solemn face. The guy was still broken up over the kid Ruben. Flack could see it in his eyes, the fact that they were red with tears and that when Danny looked at the files in the morgue and Ruben's file fell out Danny snatched it up thrust it back into the cabinet and went out of the morgue the door banging behind him, he avoided meeting Flack's eyes. Flack felt for him. He cared about his younger colleague. Danny said something about coffee and moved into the kitchen. Flack followed silently. Sitting at the table Flack watched as Danny took two cups from the cupboard. Flack noted that Danny's hands were shaking slightly as he took items out of various places. He got the ingredients for a cup of coffee and then it happened. Danny dropped the blue cup he picked up from the side table. It smashed. Danny just looked at it.

"Danny?" Flack asked, looking from the shattered pieces to his colleague.

"I need help," Danny said simply looking up from the floor to meet Flack's eyes.

Fin.

THAT IS THE END, FOR THE MOMENT IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT BIT PLEASE SAY, AND REVEIWS ARE WELCOME. =) THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS.


	2. Making You Happy

Flack was not nervous. He didn't get nervous but Danny was making him edgy. The CSI's swinging moods were making their friendship slip ever so slightly from the bond they shared. Danny and Flack, Flack and Danny… it was a friendship that relied on both sharing and relaxing around each other. And right now, that wasn't happening. Danny was so tensed up some of the time he couldn't ride his Harley (which frustrated the hell outta him). He had been let off work for the whole of the Rueben case and Mac was still uneasy about letting him back after that. But he did, which was proving to be hard for the rest of the team. They offered him a shoulder to cry on: he didn't want that, they offered him a drink and talk things out: he didn't want that either. Flack knew – not because he was psychic - that the best way to help Danny was, to carry on like normal. Where Stella was cautious and Hawkes avoided arguments with him, Flack did what he always did, be there for the guy. Flack didn't pressure him into talking or move around him like he was a hungry caged lion, he treated him as the Danny he… well… cared about.

So Flack had an idea: some way to loosen Danny up. Do something with him that he knew would make him happy. Take him to a baseball game. Flack had got the tickets and so he walked into the lab where he knew Danny was wrapping things up about a case. The smaller detective looked at him and grinned. He saw through the grin, but pretended he didn't and pushed that out of his mind.

"Hey Flack, you wanna go for a drink after?" he asked, his voice a little huskier. Flack, who normally was the one asking Danny, was shocked. Some form of improvement was happening. Good.

"Ur yeah if we have time" he said casually, as though Danny already knew what he was talking about.

"Huh?" typical Danny expression. Brows furrowed and mouth parted.

"You're coming with me to see a baseball game. Detroit Pistons vs. Indiana Pacers. I was going to take Adam but, you know, he has a date." Flack said his eyes wide. Danny's reaction was quite interesting to watch. He was not looking at Flack, but more interested in a lined sheaf of paper on the desk, and when Flack stated about the baseball game, his head jerked up. Flack handed over one of the tickets from his jacket pocket. Danny took it and Flack knew he had returned him to the days of the tender age of seventeen.

"Wow thanks Flack. Seriously man this is great" Danny said his voice lower than usual.

"Well come on don't just stand there, you got anymore paper work that Mac'll kill ya for?" he asked teasingly. Danny shook his head and Flack chucked him his jacket, the idiot had left it on his desk. They walked out of the lab and along the corridors when Danny frowned.

"Adam has a date?" he asked, not sounding convinced. Flack laughed.

"Apparently" he said and they passed Stella who said:

"You guys off to Diane's?" and they shook their heads.

"Nah Stella, we're going to a game" Danny said waving his ticket. Stella looked at Flack and nodded with a: "Have fun".

The game was brilliant. They had pitch side seats and Flack couldn't help but keep smiling. Danny was back to being Danny. The loud, the critical, and the sports loving- Danny. Half way through the game Danny – through eating most of the contents of Flacks tacos – was talking nonstop about the ball control, showing off what he knew from his college days. Flack normally stops listening after a while, because anyone who knew Danny knew that he could talk forever on the topic of baseball. But Flack listened intently to what Danny was saying because this night was focusing on cheering the guy up, every little step at a time. In some part of his mind Flack knew this was all too good to be true. He felt like one of those fan fiction stories, something bad would happen any minute. Flack was – not surprisingly – correct. Danny had stopped talking because he had to drink. Whilst drinking he was looking around the pitch. Flack and Danny liked to look at other people in the stands, see if they could see people they knew. Small slurping noises came from the blond which, apart from being irritating, did not bother him. It was when Danny seemed to freeze like a statue that Flack got a bit concerned.

"You okay Messer? What's up Danny?" he asked leaning onto his knees. The CSI had the straw still in his mouth but he wasn't drinking – there were no noises coming from him. His eyes had gone wide and he was staring. Flack frowned and followed his gaze. When he saw what Danny was looking at a part of him crumpled. A little boy, around the age of eight, was walking up the steps with his mom. He was smiling and had a shock of dark hair. The young boy was having trouble walking up the steps but he was so happy to be at the game amongst adults. He waved at Danny who waved back slowly. Flack eased into his seat, feeling everything collapse. Danny slowly relaxed once more. But there it was again, that tense feeling Flack had.

"Danny-"he began, he hadn't intended on his voice coming out in a pity tone, but evidently Danny thought it was.

"Don't say it. I know what you're going to say: it's not him, just a boy with dark hair, he's not coming back, but I don't need that Don I'm fine" Danny nearly growled, looking at him Flack saw the edges of his mouth were tight as if he were biting back tears. Flack knew this was bad, because Danny tended to call him Flack out of habit, so hearing his first name made him more alert.

"Actually I was going to say, you've eaten all my tacos" he said and Danny looked at the empty box in Flack's hand. A small smile spread slowly across the blonde's lips. A whistled began indicating the start of the second half of the game.

_Chapter 2, you like it? If so review please. I like reviews :D xxx_


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